


It isn't the same. (Post!game DRV3)

by Hydrauli_x



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Angst, Eventual Oma Kokichi/Saihara Shuichi, Friendship, Killing Game (Dangan Ronpa), M/M, Oma Kokichi Needs a Hug, Post-Killing School Life (Dangan Ronpa), Sad Oma Kokichi, Virtual Reality, Wholesome, adding more tags as I go, too lazy to add rest of the characters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-07
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-12 18:49:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 15,901
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29888976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hydrauli_x/pseuds/Hydrauli_x
Summary: The killing game was over as Shuichi basked in the sun with Maki and Himiko, they had gotten out, but for a price that would never be worth it.Soon, the world went black, along with his vision.As he wakes up in a hospital.
Relationships: Komaeda Nagito & Oma Kokichi, Komaeda Nagito & Tsumiki Mikan, Komeda Nagito & Shirogane Tsumugi, Oma Kokichi & Saihara Shuichi, Oma Kokichi & Shirogane Tsumugi, Oma Kokichi & Tsumiki Mikan, Oma Kokichi/Saihara Shuichi, Shirogane Tsumugi & Tsumiki Mikan
Comments: 18
Kudos: 41





	1. False

**Author's Note:**

> First fanfic :D

**3rd Person POV**

The only thing he remembered is basking in the sunlight, the rubble of the academy behind him as he stood with Maki and Himiko. They had made it, made it out, but for a price that would never be worth what they suffered through.

Soon, the world went black, along with his vision.

Shuichi woke up, monotonous beeping ringing in his ears. He hears whispers, he doesn't want to open his eyes, he just wants to listen.

_"He's woken up!"_

_"That was quick."_

_"Hope must've helped him awake!"_

_"How would hope do that..?"_

Shuichi opened his eyes slightly, flinching at the blinding light as he shut his eyes again, slowly trying to adjust to the light as he sees two blurry figures in front of him. One with puffy white hair with light strawberry blond tips and one with regular brown hair and a large ahoge. Shuichi sat up as he looked at the figures looming over him.

"W-where.. am I?" Shuichi asked.

"You're in the hospital, Shuichi. The Future Foundation set up this hospital for those who participated in killing games." The man with the ahoge said.

"Was the k-killing game.. real?" Shuichi asked, confused.

"No, it was a virtual reality simulation, Shuichi."

"What?.." Shuichi said, shocked. 

"Your talents and such are real, but the executions and killings weren't real whatsoever." 

"I.." Shuichi was at a loss for words.

"What's worse, is that it was broadcasted to the world from the eyes of one of your classmates, Kiibo? Was it..?"

"Who are you?" Shuichi asked.

"Ah, I'm sorry, I forgot to introduce myself. I am Hajime Hinata, the Ultimate Hope. This is Nagito Komaeda, the Ultimate Lucky Student." Hajime said as he introduced himself.

"It's an honor to even be in the same room as you both, scum like me shouldn't even be in the building surrounded by such hopeful ultimates." Nagito said.

"Nagito, try not to do that please.." Hajime said as he lightly tapped Nagito.

"Sorry Hajime." Nagito said sheepishly.

"Where are my friends?" Shuichi asked.

"Most of them have woken up, except for two." Nagito said as he looked at a clip board.

"So when will we be released?" Shuichi asked.

"When you and your friends mostly recover physically and mentally, we'll be moving you all to a condo provided by the Future Foundation, and you can live your lives normally." Hajime explained.

_**How could they live normally after this..** _

"Shuichi, one more thing." Hajime said.

"What is it, Hajime?" Shuichi asked.

"You can leave your room as long as you alert one of your nurses, got it?" Hajime said.

"Got it." Shuichi said as he started to feel drowsy, and soon fell asleep.

(SORRY THAT THIS IS SHORT! I'M JUST STARTING OUT </3)


	2. Bonding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shuichi does human interaction and more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took a long time to write, but it was nice.

Shuichi woke up once more, sitting up as he looked around the plain room, finally getting a chance to actually look at it.

The walls were a nice shade of white, on the cusp of being classified as gray, the ceiling having a few small lightbulbs and a pale white color as well. The room smelled strongly of flowers, plastic, and medicine, it was almost sickening, honestly. The bouquet of flowers on the nightstand next to his hospital bed were probably one explanation for the flowery smell. There were two windows in the room, bright sunlight shining from them, the bustling city down below and the muffled sounds of the city coming through. The periwinkle curtains surrounding Shuichi’s hospital bed wrinkled slightly as Shuichi moved them out of the way to gaze out of the window. The beautiful colors of the city contrasting greatly from the dull colors of his hospital room. Shuichi kept gazing at the city, it felt like he had been staring at the city for hours.. it was.. nice.

Soon, he heard the soft _click!_ of the door as he turned his head to see a nurse. The nurse had choppy, long dark purple hair that was unevenly cut at some ends, and purple-ish gray eyes with a nervous look on her face, and she donned the regular nurse's cap and uniform. "Um, h-hi.. I-I'm Mikan Tsumiki.. I'm your nurse for my current s-shift.." She stuttered out nervously. "Ah, hi Mikan. I-I’m Shuichi, uhm.. but you probably already know that, but nice meet you..” Shuichi said, waving slightly. “I-it’s nice to meet you t-too..” Mikan said shyly. “U-uhm, a-anyways, do you n-need anything?” Mikan asked. "Well, uh, yes.." Shuichi said before continuing, "Could I.. see my friends?" Shuichi asked.

Mikan stared at him for a second, "O-of course, they're in the dining room, I can l-lead the way.." Mikan replied. Shuichi got out of his hospital bed slowly, trying not to lose his balance just in case, and safely stood on the cold, tiled floor. There were some convenient (hospital provided) baby blue slippers in front of him, and Shuichi slipped them on and walked with Mikan. The walk was short, and silent, but it was pleasant. They finally reached the dining room, and most of his friends were there in their hospital gowns.

Kaede was the first to notice him, she looked surprised at first, but soon waved at Shuichi. "Hey, Shuichi!" Kaede called, drawing the attention of the rest of his friends. Shuichi basically froze under how many eyes were on him, and it honestly made him uncomfortable. "Uh.. Hey.. guys?.." Shuichi said awkwardly. "Is it true, sidekick?" Kaito said out of the blue. "What's true?" Shuichi said, confused. "Did you beat the mastermind and end the killing game?" Kaito questioned. "I-.. uhm, yeah." Shuichi said, but we cut off by a hug from Kaito. "I knew you could do it, sidekick!" Kaito said as he hugged him. Shuichi stayed silent as he slowly hugged Kaito back. Shuichi soon broke the hug, "Wait, why'd you ask it was true..? And how did you know?" Shuichi asked quickly. "Maki and Himiko told us what happened, we even got to watch the final class trial! We're all super proud of you, sidekick!" Kaito exclaimed.

"I.. uhm, r-really?" Shuichi stuttered, blushing a bit from the praise. "Yeah!" Kaito reassured him. "Kaito, you should stop blocking Shuichi's way and let him sit down and eat." Kaede chuckled. "O-oh, sorry sidekick! You can go now- I-I mean you could've gone anytime." Kaito said as he rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment. Shuichi walked over to Kaede's table and sat down, Rantaro was there too. "Hey, Shuichi." Rantaro waved as Shuichi sat down. 

"Hi Rantaro, hey Kaede." Shuichi said as he sat down. "Hey, Shuichi!" Kaede said cheerfully, her bubbly personality helping the already nice mood. Shuichi smiled slightly. Shuichi started up conversation once more, "T-this may be a sensitive topic, but what happened after you w-woke up?" Shuichi asked, curious. Rantaro and Kaede seemed comfortable with answering, Kaede answering first. "After I woke up, I lost my voice for a bit due to damage in my throat, but it went away after a few weeks, some recovery treatment and a couple dozen glasses of water. I also met up and apologized to Rantaro, even if I didn't kill him.." Kaede chuckled. "I also swore to never play Der Flohwalzer ever again, which was kind of dramatic, but honestly, after my execution, I just.. don't like the song anymore." Kaede added, Shuichi nodding as Kaede nudged Rantaro as a signal that it was his turn to speak. "After I woke up I had chronic headaches for a few weeks, but I got that treated, now I'm back to being a chill guy." Rantaro said nonchalantly. 

Shuichi asked a few more questions, "Who's missing? I know Nagito said two of our friends haven't woken up yet, and I can't tell who's missing.." Shuichi asked as he looked at the groups of his friends at other tables behind him. Rantaro piped up, "Kokichi and Tsumugi are the ones missing, but that seems expected. Both of them were crushed and that would have a huge physical toll, even if it was VR, it feels _real_ , and I'm not even going to mention what could've happened to Tsumugi mentally due to her being the mastermind.." he answered. "I.." Shuichi was at a loss for words, he didn't think about the mental and physical toll those two could have after this, of course they'd take the longest to wake up and even longer to recover. Soon, Kirumi came over, "Shuichi, would you like anything for breakfast?" she asked. "K-kirumi? You're back to work? But what about-" Shuichi started, but was cut off. "I am fine Shuichi, I have made a nearly full physical and mental recovery and am ready to go back to fulfilling your tasks." Kirumi said. "Nearly?" Shuichi asked, Kirumi answered quickly, "I haven't made a full physical and mental recovery yet, and cannot go back to maid work, but I have recovered enough to help out slightly in the kitchen and other places." Kirumi said. "Oh, that makes sense.." Shuichi said, soon ordering what he would like for breakfast (I'm just gonna say, this is going way faster than you think and it's still like 10 AM for them.)

After breakfast ended, Shuichi met up with some of his friends and spent time with them. "So, what do you guys want to do?" Shuichi asked, looking at the group of 13 people (13 excluding shuichi, tsumugi, and kokichi.) "We could play Uno." Kaito suggested. "The last time we played Uno with you Kaito, you were playing with Go Fish _AND_ Poker cards, I'm an anthropologist and even I think you're kind of stupid for a human." Korekiyo said. "HEY! I'm not stupid! I'm just good at Go Fish! And don't talk about me like I'm an alien!" Kaito said. "See what I mean?" Korekiyo added. "How about we play Wii Party?" Korekiyo suggested. "We don't even have a fuckin' Wii or a Wii U, where did you get that damn idea from dumbass?" Miu started. "Couldn't you build one?" Kaede asked. "Yeah I could build one but I don't even know what Wii circuiting looks like! I can't build something that already exists if I don't know the inner workings Kaeidiot!" Miu said. "How about we play Stri-" " _ **NO.**_ " everyone said as they interrupted Miu, who was obviously going to suggest something sexual. 

They eventually decided on a variety of board games the hospital had, including: Cards Against Humanity, Snake Oil, Exploding Kittens, and Monopoly. (all those games are so fun lmao.) They all split off into groups and started to play.

SNAKE OIL GROUP (Korekiyo, Himiko, Kaede, and Tenko):

  
"So, what're you selling me?" Korekiyo said. "We're going to sell you a Couch Potato!" Kaede said. "They're potatoes that're both soft and a good place to sit!" Kaede said, Korekiyo wasn't convinced. "It's both firm and soft so you can use it to do work and play games like Uno and such on a huge potato everybody will be comfortable on." Himiko added. "Considering your.. strange, behavior for a degenerate, this Couch Potato is useful for whatever strange things you do in private." Tenko added. Korekiyo chuckled, "I'm sold, but not because of that last point." 

CARDS AGAINST HUMANITY GROUP (Angie, Ryoma, Miu, and clueless Gonta):

"The class field trip was ruined by.." Ryoma started

"Throwing a virgin into a volcano." Ryoma read, Miu cackled "You virgins are kinda funny!"

"A butterfly effect." Gonta smiled, "Butterflies are Gonta's friends!"

"A man trying to boycott Wii Tennis while swinging a Wii Remote at people on the stre- pfft." Ryoma said as he chuckled. "I put that one down, nyahahah!" Angie laughed.

The group kept playing and they erupted into laughter, Ryoma letting out a chuckle at most. Laughter really is contagious. 

EXPLODING KITTENS GROUP (Kiibo, Shuichi, Rantaro.)

"I have two taco cats, I can use that pair to steal a card from one of you, so I am taking one from you, Kiibo." Rantaro said, gesturing his hand at Kiibo. "I don't get this? How do two taco cats team up to steal one of my cards?" Kiibo said, questioning the logic of this. "It's the rules of the game Kiibo, now hand it over." Rantaro smiled, Kiibo handing over one of his cards as Rantaro drew from the draw pile to end his turn. "I think I'll play my see the future card." Shuichi said. "See the future, summon the Mantis Shrimp?" Rantaro chuckled as shuichi took the next 3 cards in the draw pile and looked at them, a defuse card was next and right after that was an exploding kitten and a hairy potato cat. Shuichi smiled and put them back down and took the top card the looked at, now having two defuses. Kiibo drew a card, "An exploding kitten? What does that mean?!" Kiibo panicked. "You take your defuse card and put it down in the discard pile to save yourself from the exploding kitten, and then shuffle it back into the deck." Shuichi instructed. "RANTARO TOOK MY DEFUSE CARD!" Kiibo shouted as he panicked. "Well, looks like the exploding kitten exploded, and you are now out, Kiibo." Rantaro said cooly, Kiibo sighing in defeat as the exploding kitten was shuffled into the deck along with Kiibo's cards. Shuichi eventually winning due to somehow being really good at Exploding Kittens even though it's a first for all of them.

MONOPOLY GROUP (Maki, Kaito, Kirumi)

"MAKIROLL YOUR BOARDWALK HAS LIKE 4 HOUSES!?!" Kaito panicked as he rolled a 6 and landed on Maki's Boardwalk. "Yes, yes it does Kaito, now hand over the money." Maki said. "Fine, Makiroll." Kaito said defeatedly as he handed over the last of his money to Maki, now bankrupt and out of the game. It was now between Maki and Kirumi, Kirumi had 5 monopolies and Maki had two. The final monopoly was Boardwalk and Park Place, Maki had Boardwalk and Kirumi had Park Place. Maki rolled the die, rolled a 2, and moved her piece over to Park Place. "Dammit!" Maki cursed as she handed Kirumi the last of her money, Kirumi smiling. "That game was fun, good game you two." Kirumi said, shaking both of their hands.

They played board games until evening, not forgetting lunch or dinner, it was a fun bonding experience for all of them, and they felt closer. Soon everybody headed to bed, hospital gowns leaving the area. Shuichi walked back to his hospital room, did his nighttime routine, and tucked himself back into his hospital bed as he stared outside his window at the bright city and the pale sunset, as he slowly fell asleep, content about what had happened today.

In another part of the hospital, two pairs of eyes fluttered open, filled with curiosity. One pair purple, the other pair blue, they finally woke up. 


	3. Awake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> IT'S MY BOYYYY PANTA ADDICTION IN THE FLESH-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was fun to write ✨

Kokichi opened his eyes, it was dark in his room, the only source of light being a nice lamp on a night stand next to a bouquet of flowers in a vase. The only things he hears are a monotonous sequence of rhythmic beeps from the heart rate monitor and the sounds of the bustling city, even at night the city was was loud. The room wasn't as dark as he thought, the lamp was actually quite bright and it lit up the area from the door to his bed.

Kokichi tried to slip out of bed, a sharp pain went up his spine "Gah-" Kokichi hissed through his teeth, being crushed by a hydraulic press did some shit. His heart rate spiked due to the pain, soon settling down to a lower rate, but still considered high, the heart rate monitor beeping rapidly. That one spike was enough to alert hospital staff, and soon Kokichi heard footsteps in the hall and his door clicking open to reveal a man with white, fluffy hair with light strawberry blond tips strolling in. "You're awake? That was fast." the doctor? said. "Where am I.." Kokichi asked. "Welcome to the hospital, this hospital is managed by the Future Foundation for killing game participants." The man explained. "I am Nagito Komaeda, the Ultimate Lucky Student." 

"Wait, wait, so this isn't Hell?" Kokichi said, confused. Nagito chuckled, "No, sadly, this isn't Hell." "Damn.." Kokichi mumbled. "I'm surprised you can speak, honestly. That press really did a toll on you." Nagito continued, getting back on track. "No shit, Sherlock." Kokichi replied. "Wait.. how'd you know I got crushed by a press?" Kokichi asked. "Your classmate Kiibo had the whole killing game broadcasted through his eyes, it really was a shame what happened to you, you were only trying to help." Nagito said. "I guess, but I really just turned out to be a villain, heh, my plan _failed._ " Kokichi said as he tried to move his neck, only to feel extreme pain as he hissed again. "I know how that feels." Nagito said as he looked away sadly. "How?" Kokichi asked. "I and many others who work at this hospital were in a killing game also, I was honestly somebody different, I was a villain, I was the antagonist, I was scum, and I still am. I know how it feels to be hated and to be the antagonist..- I'm sorry, scum like me doesn't get to get all dramatic and sad-" Nagito said. "You're not scum Nagito, you're way better than me, I got two of my friends killed for my own personal gain, and I got what I deserved, god I'm pathetic.." Kokichi said, his mask of lies slipping off. "BUT THAT WAS A-" Kokichi tried to exclaim, his voice was hoarse when he tried to shout, but he got cut off by a soft hug from Nagito.

"You are not pathetic Kokichi, yes you got two of your friends killed, but it was for the greater good, to end it all, you were a good person, you don't need to lie to me about how you feel." Nagito said softly. "Ow- ow- can you let go-" Kokichi said quickly and painfully. "Ah, sorry!" Nagito said as he let go quickly, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. "Anyway, like I was saying, even if you did bad things, you did it for the greater good, Kokichi, you aren't a bad person, even if you think of yourself that way." Nagito said. 

Kokichi looked at Nagito for a second, his mask of lies completely breaking apart as his eyes started to tear up as he started to sniffle. "I-I'm sorry- did I say something wrong? I really am scum- I made someone cry when I was trying to reassure them.." Nagito said as he stared at Kokichi before looking away. "N-no, you didn't say anything _*sniff*_ wrong, I'm just glad I have somebody I can trust, somebody I can break down in front of..who knows how I feel, even if we just met.." Kokichi said as hot tears rolled down his cheeks as he smiled at Nagito. Nagito wiped the tears off Kokichi’s face and hugged him again before letting go quickly so he didn't hurt him. They chatted throughout the night, Nagito leaving at dawn. They had both made a new friend.

Kokichi sat in his bed, if he was unable to move then he'd have to call a nurse, which would need him to spike his heart rate by moving one of his limbs. Even if it wasn't broken, his body thought it was. He twitched his finger and watched the heart rate monitor spike, and the pain rush up his spine as he clenched his teeth. Soon, Mikan came in. Kokichi knew Mikan quite well, he had spiked his heart monitor 5 times today and Mikan was the only nurse who came, and he would talk to her for what felt like hours on end, they were quite good friends even if they just met today. "Hey K-kokichi, what do you n-need?" Mikan asked, she still stuttered around him, which somewhat annoyed him, but after understanding Mikan's past, he let it slide. "Hey, Mikan, when will I recover?" Kokichi asked. "W-well, considering your body believing everything in your body is broken, your body might need therapy for it to start to realize that your body isn't broken into tiny little pieces." Mikan explained. "..Also could I have a Grape Panta?" Kokichi asked with puppy dog eyes. "K-Kokichi, this is your 3rd Panta today, this is your final one, o-okay?" Mikan said worriedly. 

"Okay fine, I'll stop drinking Panta today after this one, pinkie promise!" Kokichi said playfully as Mikan chuckled. Mikan walked out of the room to fetch Kokichi some Grape Panta as Kokichi stared at the wall, he shed a few tears before forcing himself to stop crying, he was the villain, malicious, a liar, not caring about others.. What was he doing, he was supposed to be evil, not to cry, even if he was pathetic, selfish scum. He was the Ultimate Supreme Leader, he had a huge organization, he can't afford to cry now, but his plan failed and he didn't die. He heard the door click and looked at Mikan, who was back with the nectar of the gods, Grape Panta. Mikan helped pour the Panta into his mouth since, again, he couldn't move. "Yes, feed me the nectar of the gods, servant!" Kokichi said as Mikan laughed with him. 

Soon, the Panta bottle was finished, and Kokichi looked at Mikan. "Hey, Mikan..?" Kokichi said. "Hm? What is it K-kokichi..?" Mikan said curiously. "When can I start that therapy stuff for my body so I can move again?" Kokichi asked. "Y-you can start it t-tomorrow, but it'll be p-painful.." Mikan said, concerned. "I'll start it tomorrow then, I want my body up and running!" Kokichi said determined. "Y-you'll be taking it with Tsu-Tsumugi Shirogane then." Mikan said. 

_Tsumugi, huh? It'll be nice to catch up with her, even if she was the mastermind.._ (Lets say in this AU he deducted that Tsumugi was the mastermind before Shuichi did in chapter 6, but he didn’t tell anyone since they wouldn’t believe him.)

“Okay, cool! Thanks Mikan.” Kokichi said, smiling wide. “N-no problem!” Mikan said. “I have to go for now K-Kokichi, bye!” Mikan waved. Kokichi waved goodbye and started to fall asleep, mainly because he stayed up with Nagito and was starting to feel a sugar crash from those 3 Panta bottles. He slept through the rest of the day, even though it was only 1 PM. Soon, Kokichi woke up the next day, Mikan was setting down a bottle of Panta next to him when he started to wake up.

”Hm?..Mikan?” Kokichi said tiredly. Mikan yelped in surprise “EEK!- Oh, y-you woke up, I-I’m sorry for not waking you up..” Mikan said as she started to apologize profusely. “It’s okay Mikan! I’m not going to send you to Siberia yet!” Kokichi joked. “S-Siberia?! P-please don’t send me to Siberia!” Mikan begged. “THAT WAS A LIE! I would never send you to Siberia, Mikan!” Kokichi laughed. Mikan started to laugh nervously, and soon they laughed together and told jokes.

“Anyway, to get back on track, your therapy starts today Kokichi, I’ll put you in a wheelchair to get you over there, is that okay? It might hurt a bit..” Mikan said without a single stutter as she brought in the wheel chair. “R-ready?” Mikan said, waiting for the OK from Kokichi. “I’m ready Mikan, bring on the pain, the Ultimate Supreme Leader can handle it!” Mikan swiftly picked him up, she was strangely strong. Kokichi immediately felt tons of pain “GAAH-“ Kokichi hissed as he clenched his teeth and bit his lip. Mikan plopped him down in the wheelchair, Kokichi trying to keep himself from gripping the sides and causing himself more pain.

Mikan got a bottle of pain killers, opened it, and gave some to Kokichi with some Panta as he swallowed them, still clenching his teeth in pain. Soon, he settled down as the pain killers took effect, it still hurt, but it wasn’t as bad. “Oh my god that hurt like hell Mikan.” Kokichi said, breathing heavily. “S-sorry Kokichi, I should’ve given you those pain killers before I did t-that..” “No shit, Sherlock.” Kokichi said, mumbling a small “Sorry Mikan..” afterwards since he thought he was being a bit harsh towards Mikan. Mikan slowly wheeled him through the hospital, and after going up a few floors, they reached the therapy room, Tsumugi already there, also in a wheelchair, waiting. “Kokichi? Is that you? I almost couldn’t recognize you!” Tsumugi said. “Do I really look that different?” Tsumugi nodded and continued, “There’s a mirror on that wall over there, well, the mirror IS the wall.” Tsumugi said as Mikan wheeled Kokichi over there so he could get a good look at himself. Kokichi’s eyes widened as he looked at his reflection.   
  


One of his eyes had a crack down the middle, probably a contact he had in or something, reached up to that eye and took out the cracked contact, it was purple.. He looked at his now uncovered eye, it was.. yellow? Kokichi put the contact back in, he didn’t want to be more different than he already was. He examined his hair, the color was lighter, almost a lavender, no doubt it was going to get lighter. The tips were pure white, his skin was still extremely pale, man.. he really did look different, where the hell did all the melanin in his hair go?.. “See what I mean? I could only tell it was you because of your hairstyle.” Tsumugi said. “I.. really do look different..” Kokichi said quietly. “IT’S REAL BADASS!” Kokichi exclaimed, lying.

Mikan spoke up, “S-shall we start the therapy?” Tsumugi and Kokichi nodded. “Sure Mikan.” Kokichi said. “I-I’ll go get the people helping with your physical recovery.” Mikan said as she rushed out of the room. Mikan soon came back in the room, soon, she came back with two women. One of the women had blonde hair and an orange kimono with a green wrap around the waist, the other had wild black hair with piercings and a few parts of hair colored pink, blue, and white. “Hey losers! I’m Hiyoko Saionji, this pig here is Ibuki Mioda, we’re going to be helping you with your recovery!” She exclaimed. “Hey! Nice to meet you guys! Both of you look ready for recovery!” Ibuki exclaimed enthusiastically.

Hiyoko sure was rude, Ibuki was too enthusiastic for all of them.

_God this was going to be absolute **HELL.**_

“Now! Stand up, those pain killers have to have to have worn off by now, and we need to convince your bodies you’re not smashed to little useless bits!” Hiyoko instructed. Tsumugi and Kokichi painfully stood up, “THIS HURTS LIKE HELL-“ Kokichi exclaimed before clenching his teeth. “TALK ABOUT INTENSE! IS THIS WHAT DESTROYING YOUR BODY USING ONE FOR ALL 100% FEELS LIKE?!” Tsumugi said, trying to distract herself as she tried to endure the pain. “WE DON’T NEED YOUR STUPID REFERENCES!” Kokichi yelled back. “Hah! If you can’t endure this then good luck trying to even walk!” Hiyoko chuckled. “You guys can do it! I believe in you!” Ibuki cheered. Tsumugi and Kokichi endured it for several hours, Hiyoko and Ibuki clapping and cheering them on.

“Try walking over to me now!” Ibuki said. It hurt a lot less, honestly, Kokichi was the first to take the challenge, almost losing his balance, but he slowly made his way to Ibuki “That.. was a lot easier and less painful than I thought..” Kokichi said. “See! It’s working already!” Ibuki smiled. Tsumugi took the challenge next as she made her way to Hiyoko. “You did it! You’re slightly less useless!” Hiyoko cheered. Tsumugi let out a small “Thank you?..” as she breathed heavily. Soon, after a few hours of pain, the session ended at 8 PM. “Great session you two! You’ll be coming back tomorrow for the finishing touches on your therapy! We didn't expect you guys to make such quick improvements! This'll be a cinch!” Ibuki exclaimed. “Finally..” Kokichi and Tsumugi sighed in relief. Mikan left for a bit to find another nurse to wheel them out since Ibuki and Hiyoko were too busy to help since they had to leave immediately after the session ended.

Tsumugi turned to Kokichi in her wheelchair, and started conversation. “Hey, Kokichi, can I ask you something?” Tsumugi asked. “Of course Tsumugi! Anything for my favorite mastermind!”

"You really found out that quickly? Was I that obvious?" Tsumugi said as Kokichi chuckled, "Continue." Kokichi said as Tsumugi looked at him sadly, “Do you.. _**hate me?..**_ ” Tsumugi asked. “Of course not! Why would I?..” Kokichi answered. “B-because I was the mastermind- I was _**evil**_ how do you not hate me?!” Tsumugi said, tears in her eyes. Kokichi stared at her, “I basically killed two people Tsumugi, I manipulated people, I hurt people. You’ll never be evil in my eyes when you think about all the shit I’ve done. Plus, that wasn't the real you, I know you're a good person, assuming you became super ultra mega evil at the end.” Kokichi said. Tsumugi looked at him shocked, and started to speak, “Thank you, for not hating me, Kokichi. I never knew you had a soft side, heh, I just thought you were a cold blooded lying anime antagonist..” She chuckled. “HEY! DO YOU WANT ME TO TAKE THAT ALL BACK AND SEND YOU TO SIBERIA?!” Kokichi said threateningly. “N-no! Don’t send me to Siberia- I have so much anime to binge- I’m sorry-“ Tsumugi started, but Kokichi chuckled. “THAT WAS A LIE! I trust you, I won’t send you to Siberia, Tsumugi.” They chuckled and told jokes, they even planned an anime marathon when they could both fully recover and watch in the hospital’s AV room. They became friends in the span of a few minutes.

Soon, Mikan came back with Nagito, “I couldn’t find a free n-nurse so I had to go get N-Nagito who was free right now.” Mikan explained, then turning to Nagito, “I-I’m sorry I had to bother you with this N-Nagito..” Mikan said as she gripped the handles of Kokichi’s wheelchair, Nagito gripping Tsumugi’s. “It’s fine Mikan, I was free anyway!” Nagito chuckled as they wheeled the pair together, soon splitting off.

Soon, Mikan and Kokichi reached Kokichi’s hospital room and they entered, Mikan picking up Kokichi again and putting him in his hospital bed again, “Thanks, Mikan.” Kokichi smiled. “You’re welcome, Kokichi.” Mikan smiled back. Mikan turned to leave with the wheelchair, “Bye, Kokichi, see you tomorrow.” Mikan waved. "Wait a sec, Mikan..?" Kokichi said, "Hm?“ Mikan said as she turned back to Kokichi, "Could you get me a set of contacts? Colored purple, like my eyes purple." Kokichi requested. "O-of course, bye Kokichi, I'll get those c-contacts." Mikan said as she left. "Buh-bye Mikan!” Kokichi said playfully as he fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> mMMmmMmMmm angst.. (Useless fact: Hell is also a village in Norway!)


	4. Crossing Paths at Last

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ✨Drama✨ 👀

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was fun to write ^^' (Also sorry that this was short, this'll appear in the end note too but why not.)

Kokichi woke up to bright sunlight shining in his eyes, he blinked in annoyance and waited for his eyes to adjust to the light when he heard the door _click!_ and he saw Mikan walk in, a small, long box in hand. "I- I got those c-contacts you wanted." Mikan said as she smiled gently. "Thanks, Mikan." Kokichi said as Mikan came over and gave him a pain killer so that his arms didn't ache when he took out and replaced the contact. Kokichi took out the contact gently and opened the box of contacts, 10 purple contacts, same as his eyes. He got some contact solution just in case and carefully put the contact in his eye. "Thanks for the help Mikan." Kokichi smiled at Mikan and Mikan smiled back. "I'm glad I could h-help, Kokichi." She replied. "Could I have a mirror, Mikan?" Kokichi asked. "O-of course!" Mikan said as she rushed out to get a mirror.

Mikan came back in a few minutes and faced the mirror at Kokichi, who looked at his hair to see if its hue got lighter. "Jesus Christ it got even lighter.." Kokichi said, surprised that so much melanin had been disappearing from his hair, which had become a very, very pale lavender color with snow white tips, soon, his hair was going to be pure fucking white. Kokichi didn't know the reason for the melanin disappearing from his hair, but it worried him as he stroked his fingers through his hair to check for anything, even if that was kind of useless. "I-I'd give you some melanin supplements, but so much of the pigment is already gone, it would take too many supplements, and the damage may be permanent.." Mikan stuttered. "It's fine Mikan, it'll probably turn white anyway." Kokichi said. Today, therapy was early, and Kokichi went with Tsumugi once more, Kokichi didn't notice before, but Tsumugi's hair had been slightly tipped white as well, but she probably got melanin supplements before most of it became permanent, so it only had white tips. Therapy had finished, now, they could move their arms and their legs extremely well without any pain, therapy really did do wonders.

"I'm so proud of you both! Welcome back to using your limbs!" Ibuki cheered as Hiyoko clapped. "Congrats." Hiyoko said as she left with Ibuki, mainly because she didn't have any insults. "Want to go get some soda from the soda fountain with me Tsumugi?" Kokichi asked. "Sure, and we can prepare for our anime marathon!" Tsumugi cheered. They walked together, and soon they reached the soda fountain. Kokichi grabbed two cups, one for him and one for Tsumugi as they looked at the flavors of soda. Kokichi got some ice and put his cup under the tap for Grape Panta as the nectar of the gods flowed into his cup as he put a lid on it. "Your turn Tsumugi." Kokichi said as Tsumugi got some Blue Raspberry Crush. "Ooh, good choice Tsumugi." Kokichi said, but then they heard someone say their names. "Kokichi? Tsumugi?" They turned to see the one and only, Shuichi Saihara, Kaito and Maki by his side. 

"Yeah? What's it look like? You look like you've seen a ghost." Kokichi said as he sipped from his Panta. "G-ghost?! Where?!" Kaito said as he looked around frantically. "There are no ghosts anywhere Kaito." Maki said as Kaito sighed in relief. "You look so different Kokichi.." Shuichi said. "No shit, Sherlock." Kokichi replied. They stayed silent, "Cat got your tongue?" Kokichi asked, Tsumugi watching behind him as she sipped her Blue Raspberry Crush. Maki walked up to him, "Do you wanna _**die**_?" she said threateningly. "You're really going to kill me in front of th- Gh.." Kokichi was cut off by Maki lifting him off the ground, her hand clasped around his neck tight, his cup of Panta crashing on the ground below him. "Maki don't!" Tsumugi said as she dropped her Blue Raspberry Crush, the cup crashing on the floor and spilling on the floor as she ran up to Maki to try and stop her. "Don't get involved, _**Tsumugi**_." Maki said in a dangerous tone of voice. "I- I'll be right back Kokichi, j-just wait a second." Tsumugi said as she went to go get something or someone.

Kokichi maliciously smiled as he felt his lungs losing air, he was going to die of strangulation if Tsumugi didn't come back quick. He heard the familiar footsteps of Tsumugi, along with someone else. Tsumugi came back into view with Hajime in tow. Hajime went up to both of them and forcibly ripped Maki's hand off Kokichi's neck, Kokichi crumpling to the ground as Tsumugi was by his side, helping him breathe. "What do you think you're doing." Hajime said in a stern tone of voice. "I'm giving the little gremlin what he deserves." Maki said as she glared at Hajime. "You shouldn't treat him or any innocent person like that, _ever_. you almost _**killed**_ him." Hajime said frankly. Shuichi and Kaito were speechless as they stood behind her. "You two, you didn't do ANYTHING about this? You just _**watched?**_ " Hajime said as he stared at them. They stayed frozen. "Tsumugi, Kokichi, fill up your drinks again and go to the AV room for the marathon you told me about, I just want to talk to them for a second." Hajime told them as he looked at the group. Tsumugi and Kokichi filled up new cups and left, Kokichi coughing slightly.

When they left, Hajime looked at the group. "Now, explain yourselves." Hajime said as he looked at them. Maki sighed, "The little gremlin was being annoying so I gave him a taste of what he deserves." she said bitterly. "He just acts like that, you couldn't keep calm? It's his _personality_ , part his _lifestyle_ , and that's something you can't change, you can't change who someone is unless you change them in a good way horrible way." Hajime said. "What do you know that we don't? He's basically _killed people_ for his own gain Hajime. He always acts like this, and he deserves a taste of his own medicine." Maki continued. "I know because Kokichi trusts Nagito, and he talks to Nagito, he spills his _feelings_ out to him, he tells me very little of what he gets told, and I want you to understand that you don't know what he's like, you can't just treat him like that based off past experience, yes, he was an antagonist and he was bad, but you need to understand, bad people are bad people most likely because of a reason, you don't know what goes on with Kokichi so you can't treat him like that until you understand what he's really like and have a fair judgement of him."

Maki, Shuichi, and Kaito were speechless as they stared at Hajime, "Well he looks fine, he acts like he usually does, he can handle it." Maki knew that was a terrible argument, and wished she could take it back as she mentally facepalmed. Hajime looked at them one more time, "Just because he looks and acts like he can handle it doesn't mean he _can_. He's human, he's not some cold hearted monster." Hajime said. "Sorry, for snapping at you all like that, I'll be going to continue my work, don't injure or attempt to injure anybody else or there will be extreme consequences." Hajime said as he left. The group was left speechless, they really didn't know anything about Kokichi, and they honestly felt kind of bad, Shuichi feeling extreme guilt for not stepping in, for not saying anything. He was supposed to be a detective, a hero without powers, but he couldn't save Kokichi from Maki's wrath. They had one thought on the matter, and that thought was..

_Were they the villains in this perspective?_

_**✨Back to Tsumugi and Kokichi ✨** _

Kokichi and Tsumugi were in the AV room and they were browsing through a streaming service the hospital paid for. "Ooh! They have Land of the Lustrous! The manga is really good, and the whole thing is gorgeous. Also there're swords and cloud monsters" Tsumugi said, catching Kokichi's attention. "Well, lets watch it!" Kokichi said excitedly. (LAND OF THE LUSTROUS IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE MANGA, A BIG RECOMMEND (anime got cancelled but you can find the anime on Amazon Prime it's gorgeous)!) They watched Land of the Lustrous and various other anime until they started to fall asleep, mainly from a sugar crash and because it was getting late, they couldn't tell because the AV room was downstairs and didn't have any windows for the best sound and visual quality. They fell asleep as Land of the Lustrous played in the background as they forget about what happened today. 

Mikan eventually came down with Nagito to bring them back up as they turned off the TV in the AV room, Mikan bringing Kokichi back to his room and Nagito bringing Tsumugi back to hers. Now, they were back in their hospital beds as the soothing muffled sounds of the calm city came through their window and the moon shined through the curtains. You could've just kept calm. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AaAa sorry this was short, this fic is fun to write :), all the support so far makes me really happy, thank you ^^'


	5. Refresher From the ✨Drama✨(kind of)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I HAVE NO IDEA HOW TO DESCRIBE THIS ALSO WHY IS CAPS LOCK ON

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm over here frantically trying to post multiple chapters in a day to have an excuse to not do school work and actually enjoy what I'm doing even if it's kind of crappy imo.  
> also holy shit these tags are gonna go all over the place.

Today was extremely gloomy and rainy. A storm was thundering outside as the loud rain annoyingly pitter pattered on the hospital windows, _pit pat! pit pat!_ Kokichi swore to Atua that if that rain didn't stop being a pain in the ass, he'd go throw hands at Atua himself. He checked the mirror Mikan gave him yesterday, _what the fuck._ His hair was pure white now??? How the hell does that work?! Kokichi groaned, science can't explain this shit, can it. Well of course it can't, because it doESNt mAKE fuCKIng SeNSE. Kokichi wanted to go get some panta downstairs, so Kokichi grabbed a nearby post it from a stack on his nightstand and wrote down a note for Mikan for when she comes in.

'Went downstairs! don't worry about me! ;P

\- Ultimate Supreme Leader, Kokichi Ouma.'

Kokichi left the note on his pillow and left his hospital room to go downstairs. He walked down the stairs to the dining room only to notice Tsumugi sitting at one of the dining room tables an hour before breakfast. Tsumugi must've heard his footsteps because her head perked up slightly and she saw Kokichi standing at the doorway. "Hey Kokichi! A new season of Land of the Lustrous came out!" (I wish that actually happened 😔) "Wait, really?" Kokichi asked as he sat down with Tsumugi and looked at Tsumugi's phone, the teaser of Land of the Lustrous season two playing. "The first episode of season two comes out today at 12:30 this afternoon! Want to set up another anime marathon?" Tsumugi asked. "Of course I do! Lets hope Ms. Assassin doesn't lose her cool this time over me kidding." Kokichi chuckled. "Great! I'll set an alarm for the anime marathon, meet me at the soda fountain today at 12:25!" Tsumugi smiled. "Sure! This marathon'll be amazing!" Kokichi smiled back.

Kokichi got up for a second, "Hey, I'm gonna get something to drink from the soda fountain since it's operational anytime, want anything?" Kokichi asked. "I'm going to switch it up today, could I have a Blue Raspberry Minutemaid?" Tsumugi asked. "Sure, coming right up Tsumugi!" Kokichi said as he got two cups, filled them with ice and used both of his hands to fill them at the same time like it was an amazing magic trick. Soon, he dramatically walked back like a fancy waiter and handed Tsumugi her drink. "Thanks Kokichi!" Tsumugi said as she clinked her plastic cup with Kokichi's. "Mmm, sugar." Kokichi said. "My organization used to have breaks like this, but instead we had tea and pastries." Kokichi added. "Really? Your organization sounds nice, honestly, how evil is it?.." Tsumugi said. "I will take back that statement I said about Siberia if you question the maliciousness of my organization." Kokichi said jokingly. "Okay, okay, I won't ask." Tsumugi chuckled. They laughed together and it was only 6:30 in the morning with a huge storm outside.

Kokichi and Tsumugi heard the doors slam open, they walked over to see the commotion. Turns out, it was just Hajime running in to get away from the rain as quick as possible. "God I'm soaked.." Hajime groaned. Hajime turned to look at them, "Hey you two, you know you don't have to be down here so early, right?" Hajime said, "We know, but we just happened to meet down here, also want some coffee from the coffee maker? I'm pretty sure I won't set fire to anything! Like 405% sure!" Kokichi said, chuckling with Tsumugi.

"Sure, Kokichi. I could use some coffee right now, honestly." Hajime sighed as he sat down with them. Kokichi soon coming back and handing Hajime coffee as black as his soul- with just a pinch of sugar. Hajime sipped his coffee as he chatted with Tsumugi and Kokichi, telling stories and laughing with them.

"You're saying D.I.C.E is a 10,000 member organization that operates from the shadows and controls the world on a whim?" Hajime said, confused as he stirred more sugar into his coffee. "Yep! and I'm the leader of it all!" Kokichi laughed. "I've never heard about your organization before though?" Hajime said. "That's coming from the man who didn't know what an octagon was." Kokichi cackled with Tsumugi.

"That was a low blow right there, speaking of low, is it true you're as tall as Dora the Explorer?.." Hajime said as he sipped his coffee and smiled smugly. Kokichi let out an offended gasp, "That was an even lower blow! I feel so hurt right now Hajime.." Kokichi said as a fake tear rolled down his face and they continued to laugh and joke. Soon, Nagito came in completely dry, to the jealousy of Hajime, and said "Hi." before leaving to start his work, he had an early shift today so, unfortunately, he didn't have time to talk. "Oh, I also have some good news for you." Hajime said. "Ooh! Good news! The best kind of news! What is it Hajime?" Kokichi said, Tsumugi looking interested also. "Well, we got the paper work and etcetera arranged for you all to move into the condos soon, you'll be coming with the hospital staff to go shopping for little decorations for your rooms, which are pre-decorated by a professional so you feel at home, and by decorations I mean little things like LEDs, fun banners, and the like." Hajime said. "Wooahh! Really? Cool!" Kokichi said in excitement. "That's awesome, thanks for the info Hajime!" Tsumugi said. "You're welcome, now where were we.." Hajime said as they continued their conversation.

They told jokes and laughed for a couple more minutes before Hajime and Nagito had to go, Tsumugi and Kokichi were now sitting in the dining room and watching bad anime on Tsumugi's phone as they commented and joked on how bad it was. "Why are they at war over books again?" Kokichi asked. "It was something because of censorship of books." Tsumugi said. They were watching a shitty anime called Library War. (Library War is an actual anime and manga series, and it isn't that bad, but by Tsumugi's standards it'd be kinda bad so I just wanted to add that.)

Soon, it was time for breakfast and the others slowly filed into the dining room, they didn’t notice the others until Miu piped up.

“The gremlin has a friend now?! The hell?!” Miu exclaimed, Kokichi looked at Miu with an ‘are you serious’ face, “You’re just jealous we’re the Kool Kidz with a K and a Z, you cum dumpster.” Kokichi said as Tsumugi tried not to laugh at the Kool Kidz part. “E-EeeE- Y-you called me a c-c-cum d-dumpster again~“ (Oh god I hated writing the ~) “Kokichi, can you _not_ start insulting people left and right the first time you see us?” Kaito said as he sighed in frustration. “Hmm, how about no **_Space Idiot_**.” Kokichi snickered “Why you-“ Kaito said as he raised his fist, Shuichi stopping him. “Kaito, no. We’re not going to get physical, keep calm, and remember what Hajime said? If we try to hurt or hurt anybody then we’re going to have major consequences, now lower your fist.” Shuichi said. Kaito grunted in acknowledgement and lowered his fist, keeping it clenched, Kokichi noticed Maki was glaring at him and started once more. “Ooh, Shuichi has to hold back Space Idiot, what a shocker.” Kokichi said as he faked a gasp. Kaito growled at him, "I'd punch you if I could, you asshole." Kokichi smirked and replied back sharply. "Even if you tried, you wouldn't be able to." 

"Anyway, I'm bored, you guys are boring, bye." Kokichi said as he picked up his Panta and left the dining room, leaving Tsumugi, who understood his reason to leave and sadly waved goodbye. Kokichi frowned as he left the dining room, why couldn't he just stop being problematic, an asshole, a liar. He didn't want to be like this, he didn't want to be rude, he didn't want to lie, but at this point it's became pathological. He wanted to give it up, but he didn't want to give it up either. He wanted to get along with them, but he really just had to be rude, annoying, a liar. He wanted to change, he wanted to be the same person, and he wanted to get along with the others at the same time. But they already hate him, don't they, it's his fault, he's getting karma for the shit he pulled. Damn, he really was an angsty teenager. He headed towards his hospital room and got back into his hospital bed as he closed his eyes to listen to the sounds of the rain. 

He takes back what he said, the sound of the rain against his window was actually quite nice. He felt calm, and eventually he felt himself drift off as he fell asleep to the ambient white noise of the rain. He napped dreamlessly, the calming black void helped him clear his head. Soon, he was abruptly awoken by Tsumugi. "Hey, Kokichi, you okay?" Tsumugi asked. "Yeah.. I am, why?" Kokichi said tiredly. "Well, you missed the time we were supposed to meet for our anime marathon." Tsumugi said as she gestured to her phone, 1:30. Did he really sleep for that long? "Oh, sorry Tsumugi, wanna go start that marathon now then?" Kokichi suggested as Tsumugi nodded and brought him downstairs as they collected their snacks and etc.

"Wanna start season two?" Tsumugi asked. "Hell yeah!" Kokichi said as they settled down on the couch, snacks and drinks in hand. The Land of the Lustrous opening coming through the speakers as a new round of cloud monsters faced their beloved gemstone heroes. "Holy shit, that was badass." Kokichi said as he munched on some chips. "You can really see the CGI popping with the background, Studio Orange knows what they're doing, the fight scenes are beautifully crafted and the camera angles really help it pop." Tsumugi added. "Gonna be honest, I don't get your technical talk sometimes, Tsumugi." Kokichi chuckled. Soon, the episode ended. "Next week the second episode comes out, so want to watch some more? I hear Attack on Titan got a season 4, and we got through season one and half of two last time." Tsumugi said. "Sure, Attack on Titan is badass." Kokichi said as he sipped some Panta. Soon, the Attack on Titan season two opening came on.

"SASAGEYO, SASAGEYOOO SHINZO WA SASAGEYOOO!" They sang out of tune as the theme played (please don't sue me). They made it through season two and it was already 3 PM. They decided _one more_ wouldn't hurt, so they binged, and binged, and binged. They didn't realize it was 9 PM until Tsumugi checked her phone. "I-it's 9 PM! We skipped dinner! Well you skipped both lunch _and_ dinner, but.." Tsumugi said, concerned. "Who cares, anime is more important than those meanies upstairs." Kokichi said. "I mean, it _is_ anime, but they're our friends." Tsumugi said, she felt bad for skipping. "You mean _your_ friends, they hate my guts." Kokichi said as he sipped Panta. "They probably care about you Kokichi.." Tsumugi tried to convince him, "Nah, I don't think so, I'm tired now, bye Tsumugi, thank you for the marathon." Kokichi said, trying not to look uncomfortable as he left the AV room. "Okay.. Bye.." Tsumugi said sadly, knowing she said something wrong.

Kokichi went back to his hospital room and screamed in his pillow. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Kokichi screamed as the sound was muffled by his pillow. Why can't he _**not** _be a terrible person, was this really his personality? No wonder everyone hates his guts. He shook his head, he wasn't going to think about this again, he didn't want to, he wasn't going to. Hooray, he was being an angsty teenager, what a pain. He groaned in annoyance as he put his pillow behind his head again. He did his nighttime routine and he got back into bed. Listening to the rain again as he hoped for a dreamless sleep once more.

He hoped tomorrow would be a better day. If it wasn't, then he would take back what he said and try to throw hands at Atua.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Frantically replying to comments is my job now, it's more fun to talk to people on the internet than people you know  
> Also I swear this is going to be a really slow burn because why not, you need that character development and I'll happy make this over 40 chapters.


	6. Get in Losers We're Going Shopping

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shopping intensifies

Kokichi woke up to knocking on his door, "Who dares disturb the Ultimate Supreme Leader?" Kokichi shouted. "I-it's me Mikan, and N-Nagito is with me." Mikan stuttered from outside the door.

"You may come in!" Kokichi said. The door opened and Mikan walked in with Nagito in tow. "Hey Kokichi, I suppose Hajime told you about what's happening today?" Nagito said. "What do you mean?" Kokichi said, confused. "Hajime told you about how you and the others were going to go shopping to get little decorations for your pre-decorated condo rooms right?" Nagito said. “Ohh, that’s what you meant, yeah Hajime told me, Tsumugi, and probably some other people about it but he never told me when it was going to happen.” Kokichi replied.

"That makes sense, we were going to go as a group but we decided to split it up because of compatibility issues, we don't want to cause a scene, so we changed it to one group each day." Nagito explained. "It's two hospital staff members per group and you're in our group, along with that, we're going today." Nagito continued. "Sweeet! Thanks for letting me know, Nagito." Kokichi said exitedly.

"Actually, we were supposed to go right now, our group is waiting for you. Come down when you can, but we'd prefer you come down quickly, Thanks, Kokichi." Nagito said as he placed an outfit on the nightstand and started to walk out the door, "Also, sorry that scum like me has to wake you up." Nagito added before closing the door. Kokichi groaned as he yelled, "For the last time you aren't scum Nagito!" Kokichi got out of his hospital bed and went over to put on the outfit Nagito left him. 

He put it on and the outfit consisted of one lavender sweater, (what the fuck Nagito it isn't even winter) a white jacket with checkered patterns on the cuffs and in the hood along with pockets, it's probably one of those casual jackets people wear for no reason whatsoever, they even found his signature checkered bandana, which was actually quite significant since it was an outfit piece for D.I.C.E. He also had some black pants along with the finishing touch, shoes with a checkered pattern and white laces. It was actually quite comfortable, "I don't look half bad! I look ready to take over the world!" Kokichi chuckled as he looked at himself. (I saw a sprite like the outfit I described on Reddit and I decided, this is his outfit now, it is law.)

Kokichi went downstairs to see Nagito, Tsumugi, Mikan, and surprisingly, Shuichi.

Nagito was chatting with Mikan and Shuichi was talking with Tsumugi "Ah, Kokichi, you're here." Nagito said as he turned to look at him. "Before you ask, Shuichi's here because Hajime didn't want us to just pick favorites and only have a two person group, so he gave us Shuichi." Nagito explained. "Oohh, so it's like one of those field trips where you get someone who isn't in your friend group, no offense." Kokichi said. "Anyway, lets go, if we don't go now then we'll have less time to shop. Sorry that scum like me was keeping us from going." Nagito said. "Nagito, I swear to god if you say you're scum again I will shove compliments down your throat, and don't you dare try to apologize." Kokichi threatened. "Sor-" Nagito got cut off, "Nagito, I seriously told you that you don't need to apologize, and no, you are not scum, or trash, or useless." Kokichi said as he looked at Nagito while they walked. 

They chatted about anime for a little bit, Shuichi in the back listening in. "Okay, we're finally at the car, the Future Foundation provided one for all the groups." Nagito said as he got into the driver's seat, Mikan getting in the front with him as they talked. The car was actually quite nice, Tsumugi and Kokichi got into the passenger's seat, Kokichi getting the window and Tsumugi getting squished in the middle when Shuichi got in. Tsumugi pulled out her phone, "I downloaded a few episodes of Attack on Titan Season Three for us to watch just in case the ride was a bit long." "Sweet!" Kokichi said as the Attack on Titan theme played from Tsumugi's phone.

Eventually, Shuichi joined in. "Shuichi? You're interested in this? I thought you'd be more of a detective novel guy." Tsumugi said as she looked at Shuichi who turned his head to watch. "W-well, I don't have any novels on me right now, so I thought I'd watch with you guys.." Shuichi replied. "You're welcome to watch with us anytime then, we have regular anime marathons so you can join us, the season we're watching on my phone is season three though." Tsumugi chuckled. "O-oh, I should catch up then." Shuichi said. "You can join us in an anime marathon and we can help you catch up, Shuichi!" Tsumugi said. "I'd like to join you t-then." Shuichi said, with a shy tone. "Sure! I'll tell you when we're going to have a marathon then!" Tsumugi said. "T-thanks." Shuichi said. "No problem Shuichi! We're now 4 antagonists and a protagonist! Our friend group is so diverse!.. Role wise anyway." Tsumugi cheered. 

Shuichi chuckled, did he really become their friend that quickly?.. Kokichi was annoyed, Tsumugi let Shuichi into their friend group, the person who ruined his plan, (lets say he got to watch his trial after he woke up) the person that made all the effort it took to make his plan in vain. He was not fond of Tsumugi's decision but he went with it. He tried to hide his annoyance as they watched season three of Attack on Titan. Soon, they arrived at the mall. "We're here, let's go inside and get our hopeful decorations." Nagito said as they entered. Mikan finally started to talk again, "S-so, the Future F-Foundation gave you all 1-150 dollars to spend, s-so spend it wisely!" Mikan said in a semi-loud voice, she didn't seem that comfortable with speaking this loud in public, but she tried her best. "M-meet us back h-here in an hour o-okay?" Mikan continued. "Sure Mikan! Promise we'll come back." Kokichi smiled.

They split up, Tsumugi and Kokichi heading over to get some posters and etc while Shuichi headed over to get some books since he heard the bookstore had a volume he didn't have of the series he was reading, Detective Kirigiri. Kokichi ran into the merch store as they looked at posters. "I need this." Kokichi said as he pointed at a Land of the Lustrous poster. "Buy it Kokichi, you need it, it is necessary, I'm going to get this Attack on Titan poster, so you aren't alone." Tsumugi said as they checked out after getting a ton more posters, a total of 60 dollars for both of them. "5 posters for each of us for $60, all of them are limited too! Hell yeah!" Kokichi cheered as he walked with Tsumugi while they walked to the decoration store. 

Tsumugi and Kokichi walked into the decoration store, Kokichi looking at LEDs "These are supreme leader worthy.. and I can change their colors.. They're on sale too!" Kokichi said as he got a pack that was priced at around $18, really cheap, along with that, the pack had enough for both him and Tsumugi. Tsumugi was looking at fun neon letters, priced at $4 since they were on clearance. "Ooh.. it'd be $56 in total since both our names would be 14 characters altogether, but they're so cute! I need them!" Tsumugi said as she put some in her basket, enough neon letters for both their names, she made sure to grab purple ones for Kokichi. Kokichi found fun curtains and etc for Tsumugi, so he got some multicolored curtains with curtain tassles and fun pins and stickers to poke through and attach to the curtains. 

Soon, after getting a few more items and some clothes, they checked out and carried around 3 bags each now. Both of them had spent around $120 at this point. Then, they headed towards the book store for the newest volume of Land of the Lustrous, the manga left off at an incredibly dark arc and they needed to know what happens. They entered the book store and looked for the manga section, after finding the manga section they searched left and right for the volume they needed. They couldn't find the volume at all, "What the hell?! It's gone already?!" Kokichi exclaimed, disappointed. "It looks like we got here too late.." Tsumugi sighed, they spotted Shuichi in the detective novel section and watched him look through the Kirigiri section.

"Heeey Shuichi." Kokichi said as he popped up behind him. "Gah!- O-oh. it's you, Kokichi." Shuichi said, sighing in relief. "What're you looking for..?" Kokichi asked as he looked at the selection of detective novels. "I'm looking for number 18 in the Detective Kirigiri series, but they don't seem to have it." Shuichi sighed as he pointed at where 18 should be, but it went 16,17, and then 19. "You shouldn't just be looking here, there are idiots who put books in a different series on a different shelf because they're second guessing if they really want it, I saw number 18 on the shelf behind this one, Shuichi." Kokichi said as he looked at Shuichi. "Really? Thanks Kokichi! I've been missing 18 from my collection for forever, I wonder if they got the rest of my collection into my condo.." Shuichi said as he went around to check. Shuichi came back, volume 18 in hand. "Thanks again, Kokichi." Shuichi said, "No problem." Kokichi replied. "What's so appealing about the Kirigiri series that you have most of the books?" Kokichi asked, (lets say the Kirigiri series is a well known series Kokichi never really got into, but in this AU it has around 24 volumes including a limited edition art book and a whole novel about the world of the series.) he never really fancied detective novels. The murders were always easy to solve and it was frustrating when the obvious culprit was revealed as if it was a twist, so he never got into series like Detective Kirigiri. "Well, the series is based of real murders the famous detective Kyoko Kirigiri had to solve, which means they're more interesting than other detective novels which aren't very believable, it's a good read and I think you'd like it." Shuichi said. That interested Kokichi quite a bit, a believable detective novel? That would be worth the read.

"I'll give it a read someday." Kokichi said. "I can lend you the first few books in the series, if I can find my collection of course." Shuichi replied. "I'm happy you're giving the series a chance, I'll finally have somebody to talk about the series with." Shuichi said, "If we all read the series we can start a book club or something!" Tsumugi said cheerfully, "I.. actually quite like book clubs, are you both fine with making a book club?" Shuichi asked as he walked with Kokichi and Tsumugi as he checked out. "Sure, if the series is interesting I'll join in on your book club." Kokichi said as he held his bags while his hands were behind his head (how tf does he hold that, I tried that once and failed miserably.) They kept walking and tagged along with Shuichi as he got decorations for his room and etc. 

Soon, their time was up and they met back with Nagito and Mikan. "W-well, ready to g-go?" Mikan said. "Yep!" Kokichi said, popping the p. "Yeah!" Tsumugi said cheerfully. "S-sure, lets go." Shuichi said as they walked back to the car, putting their bags in the back since it'd be way too crowded if the bags came with them to the front. They watched anime and joked for most of the ride, basically welcoming Shuichi into their friend group. Kokichi was warming up slightly to Shuichi, but he was still annoyed about how he ruined his plan. Soon, they arrived. "We're here!" Nagito said as they looked out the window. "This isn't the hospital.." Shuichi said. "This must be the condo building! Tsumugi said as she looked at the sleek exterior of the condos. They got out and got their bags and looked at the condos, Nagito went through the entrance, and they followed behind. Mikan handed them the room locations. Kokichi was on the third floor, Tsumugi was on the second along with Shuichi. Kokichi walked up the stairs with Shuichi and Tsumugi, splitting off from them as he got to the third floor. He found his room and opened it.

His room looked supreme leader worthy, the floor had a mix of black and white wood planks with the occasional lavender and the ceiling was a deep purple. His bed had checkered sheets and bedding and there was a picture framed on the wall, a picture of him and D.I.C.E. the walls had a striped pattern of dark purple and white, it really popped with the floor and the ceiling. There were two windows, one that lead to one of the branches of a massive tree next to the condos and another that gave a nice view of the city. Both windows had thin, layered, black, white, and purple curtains with red, black, and white accents. There was also a nice empty bookshelf and a nightstand along with a dresser. Kokichi got out all of the stuff he bought and arranged it. His room was now adorned with posters, LEDs, neon letters and the like. (Kokichi also had to carry a step ladder from downstairs to hang the LEDs.) Kokichi was tired out at this point, and he got some Panta from the fridge, which was, conveniently, pre-stocked. He was sitting on his bed and drinking some Panta, when he heard a knock on his door. 

"Who dares disturb the Ultimate Supreme Leader?" Kokichi called. "U-uhm, it's Shuichi, I have the first few Detective Kirigiri books for you to read." Shuichi said from outside the door. "You may come in!" Kokichi called once more. His door clicked open and Shuichi came in, holding 3 books, Shuichi looked around Kokichi's room for a second, "Your room looks really nice, Kokichi, sorry if that's out of the blue but I just had to say it." Shuichi said, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly, "I know my room is amazing, I am the Ultimate Supreme Leader after all." Kokichi said dramatically as Shuichi walked over and handed the books to Kokichi. "I hope you enjoy the Kirigiri books, make sure to give them back when you're done, I'm lending them to Tsumugi afterwards." Shuichi said before walking out. "'Kay! Thanks!" Kokichi said as he looked at the cover of the first one. 

'Detective Kirigiri and the 16th Student.' the cover read. Kokichi, not even bothering to look at the illustration flipped the cover open and started reading as he sat in bed.

The book was quite good, the murders were believable and the murderers were actually quite smart, but soon Kokichi grew tired. He was on the 5th chapter and it was about how Kirigiri met some guy named Makoto Naegi, who would assist her in the investigation.

He wanted to keep reading, but he didn't want to fall asleep mid-page and lose where he was. So he creased the corner of the page he was on and closed it, setting it on his nightstand with the rest of the books Shuichi lent him.

He let his eyelids droop as he fell asleep.


	7. Midnight Walk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emo detective and Panta addict can't sleep as they go for a midnight walk and the ship starts to sail slowly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like how this is shorter than the other chapters, I like to think it's because it's supposed to be short and sweet to represent how they're growing closer but also because I just ran out of angst to write and decided, fluff, now.

Kokichi woke up in a cold sweat during the dead of night.

He had a dream, his first dream in a while, he breathed heavily as he slowly curled up into a ball, his head in his hands as his heart raced at a million miles a second. All he could think of was the press, how it felt. The feeling the ceiling was closing in on him, the feeling of how little air was getting into his lungs by the second. The feeling of the cold steel squishing against his nose, the way the light disappeared from his surroundings as he felt a sharp pain through his bones. He hated it. He felt his breathing get faster, he felt his hands clutching his hair so hard it might even rip itself out. He bit his lip hard, he tried not to cry. His effort was in vain as tears pooled in his eyes and he let out quiet sobs, he tried to close his eyes, tried to calm down, but he couldn't, he could only imagine the press. 

He wanted to think he was fine, but he wasn't. This was some shit he couldn't lie his way out of. Shit he couldn't run away from. Shit he couldn't outsmart, because you can't outsmart yourself. He cornered himself, he hated that feeling, to be cornered by your own mind. He felt as if the darkness was closing in on him, he felt his breaths shorten, they got faster, and faster, and faster. He felt as if he couldn't breathe. He shut his eyes again. He thought, and thought. He thought about how he was a terrible person. He basically sacrificed three people, three people that didn't deserve it. For what? To live? To survive? It isn't worth it when you sacrifice three innocent people. Even if it was for the greater good, he basically killed people. It was all his fault, he should've just given up in the virtual world, his plan was risky, and it failed, they died in vain, and it was all his fault.

Kokichi opened his eyes once more, he stopped crying, his breathing was okay. He wasn't sure if he stopped by himself or just didn't have anymore tears to shed. He slowly creeped out of bed, grabbing his phone for light as he trudged through the halls and went down to the first floor. He turned on the kitchen lights and opened the fridge to get some Panta. He turned the cap on the lid, the satisfying snap of the plastic, the soothing fizz of the CO2, the sugary smell of the drink, it was probably his comfort drink at this point. He chugged that shit, he drank it all by the time he had to take the bottle out of his mouth to breathe. But he still didn't feel better. He leaned on the kitchen island as he stared out the window, the moon hidden behind the clouds. He thought about everything again, and oh look, he was crying again. He hated it. He hated it so much. He decided he would go out on a walk. Yes, it was probably around midnight but nobody was awake, right? Kokichi went upstairs to get a checkered coat he bought back at the mall and slipped it on along with his shoes as he grabbed his phone. He went back downstairs to get a Panta for the road.

"Kokichi?.. What're you doing _*yawn*_ up?.." (Yes I use asterisks incorrectly, judge me.) Kokichi jolted in shock at the sudden voice and turned around. "...Bad dream, couldn't sleep, wanted to go out for a walk." Kokichi said to the silhouette, which was revealed to be Shuichi as he stepped into the light of the kitchen. "I couldn't sleep either, honestly. Can I come along?" Shuichi asked tiredly. "Sure, but get ready quick, I'm leaving soon.." Kokichi replied. "Okay, okay, just _*yawn*_ wait a second." Shuichi said as he went back up the stairs, coming back down after a few minutes in a turtleneck sweater and a brown overcoat with some jeans and shiny black shoes. "Let's go." Kokichi said as he opened the door, the chill wind getting in his face as he stepped outside with Shuichi. 

They walked through the quiet streets of the city, the moon coming out of hiding as they strolled through the city. They walked for what felt like hours as the sweet silence helped clear their heads. Shuichi had never seen Kokichi so calm before, he was used to the loud-mouthed, lying, clever antagonist. Kokichi soon broke the silence, "So, how come you couldn't sleep, Shuichi." Kokichi asked. "I just had a.. bad dream about the killing game.." Shuichi said as they walked. "Geez, really?" Kokichi said, concerned. "It wasn't a very vivid dream, more of a highlight reel, it was still unpleasant." Shuichi said as he looked up at the moon, the crescent now peeking out from behind the clouds.

"What about you? How come you couldn't sleep?" Shuichi asked as he turned his head to look at Kokichi. "I had a dream about the press.." Kokichi said, frowning. "Oh.. Really?" Shuichi said. "Yep.." Kokichi said. "I still remember it vividly, the cold steel and how I couldn't breathe as I felt like everything was closing in on me." Kokichi said as he walked, drinking some of the Panta he brought along. "R-really? Kokichi, I'm sorry you had a dream like that.." Shuichi said sadly. "My death honestly kind of sucked.." Kokichi said as he took another sip. "How come? Other than the fact that you got crushed by a giant press." Shuichi said. "Fun fact about me, I'm an extreme claustrophobe." Kokichi said cheerfully as he took a huge drink of his Panta. (It's a headcanon for this fic.) That fact hit Shuichi like a bus, if Kokichi was a claustrophobe.. then his death would feel much, much worse. "Kokichi, I'm sorry-" Shuichi said, but was cut off. "Eh, so what, it happened, it probably won't happen again, plus it isn't your fault I'm a claustrophobe, no need to apologize, Shuichi.." Kokichi said. There was uncomfortable silence for most of the walk after that, Kokichi taking a sip of his Panta once or twice sometimes.

They eventually reached the seaside, Shuichi walking towards one of the many benches the beach had and sat down with Kokichi as they finally got a breather. Kokichi and Shuichi sat in silence as they looked at the sea, the cold sea breeze brushing on their faces. Shuichi tried to break the silence, "So.. uhm.." Shuichi started, only to get soft snores in return. Shuichi looked to his side, to see Kokichi, fast asleep on his shoulder. "E-eh?.." Shuichi said quietly, not trying to wake him up. Shuichi looked at Kokichi to see if he was really asleep and to check if it wasn't a lie or a joke. Kokichi's face looked relaxed, calm, almost. Shuichi honestly thought it was kind of cute, _wait, what?_ Light pink dusted Shuichi's cheeks, probably because it was cold, yeah, it was because he was cold. _Definitely._ Shuichi tapped Kokichi on the shoulder in an effort to wake Kokichi up. "Huh? Oh, it's you Shuichi, hey." Kokichi yawned as he stretched his arms. "Wanna go back to the condo?" Kokichi said tiredly. "S-sure." Shuichi said as he and Kokichi stood up as they walked back to the condos. 

Soon, they reached the condos, Kokichi and Shuichi going to their respective floors, "Thanks for the walk, Shuichi." Kokichi said as he headed up the staircase to the third floor. "Y-you too." Shuichi said as he yawned. Eventually heading back into his room, changing, and going back to bed, finally being able to sleep.

Kokichi opened the door to his room, quickly changing and flopping down on his bed. That walk with Shuichi was nice was nice, did this mean he was friends with Shuichi now or something?.. He wasn't sure, but he was ready to go to bed although he felt more energized than tired now. Kokichi picked up the first book of Detective Kirigiri once more, reading all the way up to the 11th chapter before creasing the corner of the page and falling asleep at 2:30 AM. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanted to write a sweet chapter tbh


	8. The Friend Group Hangs out ft. Group Chat and t r e e

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> mMMmm angst.. I mean.. The friend group hangs out and group chat stuff

Kokichi woke up to knocking on his door once more.

"Who dares disturb the Ultimate Supreme Leader!” Kokichi exclaimed. “It’s me, Tsumugi!” Tsumugi said from the other side of the door. “Come in!” Kokichi replied. Tsumugi came in, phone in hand. “What do you need, Tsumugi?” Kokichi asked. “Well, I’m making a group chat so that all of us can chat when we’re separated, and so we can plan fun events and know the latest news! So can I have your number?” Tsumugi explained. Kokichi nodded, “Yes, you may have the number of the Ultimate Supreme Leader!” Kokichi exclaimed, he grabbed a slip of paper and wrote down his number on it, handing it to Tsumugi. “Thanks Kokichi!” Tsumugi said. “No problem Tsumugi.” Kokichi said proudly.

A few minutes later, Kokichi was reading Detective Kirigiri when his phone _ding!_ twice. He checked his phone, the notifications read ‘(Tsumugi’s number) added you to a group chat!’ Kokichi checked the group chat, accurately named '4 Antagonists and a Protagonist', the second one also being '(Tsumugi's number) added you to a group chat!' but this time it was 2 Antagonists and a Protagonist. he turned off his phone and continued reading because the first message was really only the purpose of the group chat and whose number is whose. Kokichi continued reading Detective Kirigiri was near the end at this point, and Kyoko was trying to figure out the murder of Mukuro Ikusaba, the Ultimate Soldier. Soon, his phone let out a _ding!_ once more, Kokichi checked the notification, which was from the groupchat once more. The message read:

Two Antagonists and a Protagonist

Today, 10:12 AM

_Tsumugi_

_I HAVE NEWS EVERYONE_

_You:_

_What's so important that you had to disturb the Ultimate Supreme Leader?_

_Tsumugi:_

_Sorry Kokichi but The others are finally going to arrive at the condos today, but later_

_due to something that happened, I wasn't told what happened so we can't assume._

_Nagito told me they merged their groups for faster trips_

_Shuichi:_

_That's good information to know, thanks, Tsumugi_

_You:_

_Cool, Thanks for telling us tsunami, I was in the middle of_

_Detective Kirigiri but it's ok._

_You:_

_Tsumugi*_

_(Lack of grammar at some points because who uses grammar while texting)_

Kokichi looked at his texts, wow, he was a lot less shitty in text. He turned his phone off again and continued to read Detective Kirigiri, occasionally chuckling at some of the jokes. Kokichi finished the book and closed the hardcover book with a small _thump!_ he liked the book, and he hoped the next book in the series would be just as good as he opened up 'Detective Kirigiri and the Missing Idol.' He flipped to the first page and began to read, he was around the third chapter when he heard his phone _ding!_ again, Kokichi turned his phone notifications to vibrate and checked the notification.

Four Antagonists and a Protagonist

Today, at 12:24 PM

_Tsumugi:_

_I just had an idea for something we could do_

_Nagito:_

_What's your idea Tsumugi?_

_You:_

_Yeah! What's so important you had to interrupt the Ultimate Supreme_

_Leader's reading again_

_Tsumugi:_

_Sorry! Just hear me out!_

_Have any of you watched a Ghibli movie?_

_Shuichi:_

_Uh.. no, actually_

_Mikan:_

_U-uh.. no_

_You:_

_Did Mikan just stutter through text?.._

_Shuichi: I think so.._

_Mikan:_

_I'm sorry!_

_You:_

_Mikan, you don't need to apologize._

_And don't apologize for that either_

_Nagito:_

_That was such a hopeful conversation_

_also I haven't seen a Ghibli movie before_

_You:_

_also, the hell is Ghibli?_

_Tsumugi:_

_*Dramatic gasp*_

_I feel hurt right now Kokichi, you don't know what Ghibli is?_

_You:_

_What? No!_

_Tsumugi:_

_I feel hurt by you guys too but at least you know what Ghibli is._

_Tsumugi:_

_Anyway, 😔, I was thinking we could have a Ghibli marathon!_

_I have every single Ghibli movie on my shelf in my room!_

_(Ghibli movies are so good.)_

_You:_

_I don't know what Ghibli is but this seems supreme leader worthy if you think they're good_

_Shuichi:_

_I'm free, I can join in._

_Mikan:_

_I'm free too, if you'll let me join._

_Nagito:_

_These movies sound very hopeful if you treat them so highly_

_I'm free so I can join in too._

_Tsumugi:_

_Great! Meet me at my condo room at 7:25 (PM)_

_You:_

_Wait how are we going to watch them in your dorm?_

_Tsumugi:_

_I have a TV in my dorm with a DVD player._

_You:_

_What?? That's so unfair! I don't have oneee and I'm the Ultimate Supreme Leader!_

_Tsumugi:_

_Yeah, not everyone got them, maybe you'll get one someday._

_You:_

_Aw, really? Anyways I'll go set my alarm for the marathon then!_

Kokichi set an alarm for 7:25, and continued to read. A few hours later, Kokichi was on chapter 10 when his phone buzzed, Kokichi closed the book after creasing the corner of the page he was on and strolled down to Tsumugi's room. Knocking on the door, "Come in!" Tsumugi said as he opened the door. "Oh hey, Kokichi!" Tsumugi said, setting up snacks and drinks on a table in the middle of her room. "Nagito, Mikan, and Shuichi are arriving soon, Shuichi had to organize some things, so feel free to sit down and get comfortable!" Kokichi sat down on a really soft pillow with the edge of Tsumugi's bed as support as he talked with Tsumugi. Soon, someone knocked on the door, "Come in!" Tsumugi called as Shuichi walked in. "Uh, hey, am I.. early?" Shuichi asked, looking around. "You're right on time! Nagito and Mikan are coming soon so get comfortable." Tsumugi said. Shuichi sat on Kokichi's right, probably so the others didn't have a problem finding a place to sit.

Finally, after a few minutes, another knock was heard from the door. "Come in!" Tsumugi exclaimed. Nagito came in, Mikan behind him as Nagito and Mikan sat next to Kokichi. "Okay! What movie do you want to watch first?" Tsumugi asked as she showed them her selection of Ghibli movies. "How about we watch My Neighbor Totoro?" Shuichi suggested. "Sure, I don't even know what Ghibli is so I'll go with whatever." Kokichi responded. "My Neighbor Totoro looks and sounds hopeful, so sure!" Nagito said. "O-okay, I think it'll be g-good.." Mikan stuttered as Tsumugi put the dvd into the dvd player. 

The movie was about some girls with a sick mother who meet a forest spirit named Totoro, it was pretty cute. When the credits rolled, everybody had their comments. "That movie was kinda c-cute.." Mikan stuttered. "I liked that, it was hopeful!" Nagito said as he ate a potato chip. "That was definitely good, it didn't have any world domination, but it's good anyway!" Kokichi said as he sipped some Panta. "I liked that a lot." Shuichi said. "Okay, what next?" Tsumugi said, they picked a move called Porco Russo. They watched movie after movie after movie, they even heard the dorm doors open, which meant the others were back, but they kept watching. By the time it was 3 AM, they were only half way through. Kokichi yawned, "We should continue this tomorrow, there are a lot more movies to go and all of us need sleep." "I agree with Kokichi, me and Mikan have an early shift tomorrow so we have to go." Nagito said as he and Mikan stood up and left. 

"Okay! We'll continue this tomorrow, bye guys!" Tsumugi said as Kokichi and Shuichi left, Kokichi waving as he walked and Shuichi muttering a small "Bye." as they left. Kokichi went back to his dorm and he flopped onto his bed, it was 3 AM and he was tired, and he passed right out as soon as he hit the soft sheets. A dreamless sleep beginning once more.

Kokichi woke up at the crack of dawn, the bright sunlight blinding his eyes, he did his morning routine in the bathroom attached to his room and he checked his phone. His phone had 3 notifications, turns out he had notifications from the group chat.

Today, 6:11 AM

_Tsumugi:_

_Do you guys want to continue the Ghibli marathon today?_

_You:_

_Sure, I'm free a lot now because my organization is nowhere to be found._

_Shuichi:_

_Sure, I'm free, Tsumugi_

_Nagito:_

_Last time the marathon was extremely hopeful,_

_and I don't have many late shifts today along with Mikan_

_so we're free._

_Mikan:_

_I can join in again, if you want me to_

_Tsumugi:_

_You're always welcome Mikan!_

_Mikan:_

_Really? I think I'll go with Nagito then_

_Tsumugi:_

_Then it's settled, we'll continue the marathon at 9 (PM)_

_You:_

_Cool, I'll set an alarm._

Kokichi set an alarm and went down to get some Panta, and happened to bump into Kirumi in the kitchen. "Oh hey, Kirumi." Kokichi said tiredly. "I mean.. Heeeey Kirumi! How're you? You still mad I exposed your plaaaan?" Kokichi said cheerfully. Kirumi sighed, "I've learned to forgive you for that, Kokichi, it was selfish of me to attempt that." she said as she looked away from Kokichi as she dusted some of the cabinets in the kitchen. "Awww you're no fun!" Kokichi said as he took some Panta from the fridge as he walked back up to his room. He felt adventurous, so he opened up his window, the one that led to one of the branches of the tree next to the building. He picked up Detective Kirigiri and the Missing Idol and carefully crouched on the window sill as he slowly put one leg onto the branch, which was quite wide and sturdy as he slowly got on. "Yes! The Ultimate Supreme Leader does it again, nishishi." Kokichi said as he sat down on the high up branch as he opened the book. He sighed as the cold air blew in his face. "This wasn't as fun as I thought it would be, and the sun's getting in my face.." Kokichi said. "Maybe I can get even higher.." Kokichi said as he went higher by one branch.

The branch he landed on wasn't as sturdy as he thought, every single move he made caused the branch to creak and shake, Kokichi read on that branch for a bit before deciding reading inside was better and with less of a chance to fall and hurt himself. Kokichi slowly got off the branch, but he misstepped and slipped. He had left his phone inside so at least that was safe. He tried to get back on the branch as he grabbed it with one hand, book in the other. But the branch only responded with a loud _**crack!**_ as the branch slowly broke off, "Oh, shit." Kokichi said as he started to fall, letting go of the book. Kokichi fell faster than the branch as he hit the grass next to the condos, the branch landing right on top of him as it knocked the air out of him, with the book hitting him square on the nose as it tumbled onto the grass. Kokichi coughed as he felt the branch press the air out of his lungs, and as his nose ached. Shit, that branch was heavy. He felt as if he was being crushed, he felt like he couldn't breathe as the cold air got windier while he laid on the ground, a branch a bit more than half his size on top of him. The branch mainly put pressure on his legs and his torso, he could really only try to move his legs. Kokichi felt himself struggle to breathe, he was panicking, he was _definitely_ panicking. He felt as if he had experienced this before.. on the press. Kokichi started to breathe faster, panic overriding any rationality he had as he thought about the press, the branch, his situation. 

He hated how similar this situation was to the press, he sat up and frantically tried to move the branch with his arms, but he could only get it to nudge a bit. He felt the memories of the press, he hated those memories, he wanted to throw them in a hole and bury them alive. But now, they've come back alive. Kokichi felt tears prick his eyes as he tried to move the branch, he could barely breathe as he felt the ~~press~~ branch pressed on his lungs. He felt the tears roll down like a waterfall as it started to feel more and more like the press, the way he felt crushed, how cold he felt, the way he could barely breathe. he heaved as hard as he could, nudging the branch slightly each time as he cried harder. "Get.. _*huff*_ off.. _*puff*_ you stupid.. _*sniffle*_ tree.." Kokichi said shakily as he lifted the branch off with one final heave, breathing heavily. Pink drops were on the branch and on his outfit as he wiped his nose, the pink smearing on his sleeve. He sighed as he shakily stood up, his legs ached. Stray tears fell off his face as new ones formed. He realized the branch had scratched his legs while he moved it because he noticed a good amount of pink bleeding through his pants. "Shit." Kokichi said his hands had small scratches as well. Damn he was stupid, why did he try something so risky.. He coughed for a second as his lungs breathed unevenly. He picked up Detective Kirigri, which was unscathed as he winced while picking it up due to the scrapes being sensitive to the book cover rubbing against them. He limped back over to the condo entrance, his aching legs unable to stop him. 

He entered the building, Kirumi was still in the kitchen, fuck. Kokichi limped faster, it hurt like hell but there was no way in hell he was going to let anybody see him like this. "Kokichi?" Kirumi said as he reached the base of the stairs and climbed step by step. "Y-yeah?" Kokichi said shakily, damn it. "You're limping, are you okay?" Kirumi asked. "I'm just peachy Kirumi, the Ultimate Supreme Leader doesn't limp!" Kokichi shakily, but cheerily said. "Okay.. I believe you." Kirumi said uncertainly, Kokichi knew she was lying, she obviously knew. Kokichi reached his room and got in quickly as he basically slammed the door shut. He limped over to his bed and got his phone, texting Tsumugi.

Tsumugi

Today, at 9:42 AM

_You:_

Hey, Tsumugi, could I have some help?

_Tsumugi:_

_Yeah! Of course, what do you need, Kokichi?_

_You:_

_Could you find some bandages? I won't tell what they're for but I need them._

_Like , now_

_Tsumugi:_

_I won't ask what happened, but okay._

_You:_

_Thanks._

_Tsumugi:_

_No problem, Kokichi._

Kokichi continued to say on his bed, until he heard his door get knocked on, "Kokichi? I brought those bandages." Tsumugi said. "Come in." Kokichi said tiredly, the blood loss was getting to him, those scratches were probably deeper than he thought, he didn't exactly check. The door clicked open, "Kokichi? Are you oka-..." Tsumugi stopped talking as she rushed over to Kokichi, "Kokichi what happened?!" Tsumugi asked. "I fell out of a tree, a branch landed on me but it isn't a big deal, Tsumugi." Kokichi said as he sat up, wincing slightly. "It IS a big deal Kokichi, I need to get Kirumi." Tsumugi said as she started to walk away, Kokichi reached out a hand to her. "Wait! Don't tell her, I don't want anybody to see me like this.." Kokichi said weakly. "Kokichi, I know you want everybody to think you don't have a care in the world, but this is a big deal and you need somebody with medical experience because Mikan has a shift, so Kirumi is the one who can help you." Tsumugi said. "Fine." Kokichi said as he looked away.

Soon, Tsumugi came back in, Kirumi in tow. "I knew something was wrong.." Kirumi sighed as she took the bandages from Tsumugi. "Kokichi, roll up your pant legs, I need to bandage you up." Kirumi instructed, Tsumugi left at this point, she didn't want to see any wounds. Kokichi rolled up his pant legs, wincing as they went over the scratches. Turns out, they were deep gashes, Kokichi couldn't stand looking at them, but soon they were bandaged tight by Kirumi, along with his hands. "You think I'm pathetic now, right?" Kokichi said as he looked down at the multicolored floorboards of his room. "What?.." Kirumi said as Kokichi looked at her sadly. "I said, you think I'm pathetic now, right?" Kokichi sighed as he looked away once more.

Kirumi turned Kokichi's head to look at her, "Kokichi, I will never think you're pathetic." Kirumi said softly, "But why?.. I've been so rude to you.." Kokichi said, tears threatening to form. "You may have been rude, but you're human like us, I know you can be kind sometimes." Kirumi started. "I talked to Mikan when I was still recovering, we became friends, and when I talk to her now she talks about you sometime, how you're so nice and how you're such a good friend." Kirumi continued. " You're smart, and you're powerful, and you demonstrated that already, so don't **ever** think you're pathetic.." Kirumi said, "Honestly, you're like a son I never had, I've never said that to anyone before. We may not be close, but I'll treat you like my son nonetheless." Kirumi finished, Kokichi softly hugging her as she hugged back. "Thanks.. Mom." Kokichi said quietly. They broke the hug, Kirumi looking at Kokichi again. "Don't hesitate to tell me about things like this Kokichi, I care about you." Kirumi said as she opened the door to leave. "Okay, I won't.." Kokichi said as he laid in bed once more, he was tired. Mainly from the blood loss, and from everything he did. Kokichi grew drowsy and he slowly fell asleep. 

Kokichi woke up, it was dark outside. He looked at his phone, it was 8:59. Kokichi rushed to Tsumugi's room, it was almost time for the marathon. He went down to Tsumugi's room, room temperature Panta he forgot to drink in hand, and opened the door. "Hey, Kokichi." Tsumugi said. "Hey." Kokichi said as he sat down. "Are you okay now? Tsumugi asked. "Yeah, I'm okay now, thanks for getting Kirumi by the way." Kokichi said. "No problem, Kokichi." Tsumugi said. Eventually, the others arrived and the finished the marathon at 2:00 AM. "Those movies were so good!" Kokichi exclaimed as the others agreed. "The fact that they use 2D animation well really turns the whole thing up a notch! Ghibli movies are always good." Tsumugi said. After a few more discussions and comments about the Ghibli movies everybody left to go to bed.

Kokichi went up to his room and did his nighttime routine before finally laying on his bed and falling asleep, worn out from all those movies and what happened today.


End file.
